White House Says Romney View of Loss ‘At Odds With Truth’

Jeff Swensen/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The White House on Thursday said Mitt Romney is “at odds with the truth” for the belief, as he told donors on a call, that “extraordinary financial gifts” from the administration to minority voters won the election for President Obama.

“That view of the American people of the electorate and of the election is at odds with the truth of what happened last week,” spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on board Air Force One.

Obama won the election with 50 percent of the popular vote to Romney’s 48 percent, and 332 electoral votes. He carried all major classes of minority voters, including a historic 71 percent share of the Hispanic electorate.

On a conference call Wednesday with members of his finance committee, Romney said that he ran a “highly effective” campaign and had no regrets about the strategy. He attributed the loss to Obama’s “aggressive” turnout of black, Hispanic and younger voters allegedly motivated by “gifts” doled out over the past four years.

“In order to get Hispanic voters, what the president did we would be very reluctant to do, which is one, provide amnesty for those that are here illegally, and number two put in place Obamacare which basically is $10,000 a family,” Romney said. “It’s a proven political strategy, which is give a bunch of money to a group and, guess what, they’ll vote for you.”

Carney dismissed Romney’s characterization of administration policies on health care, education and immigration as giving “a bunch of money” to constituencies to win over their support.

“Making it easier for Americans to go to college, that’s good for America. It’s good for all Americans. It’s good for the economy,” Carney said. “Making health care available to young people who can stay on their parents’ plans. That’s good for those families it’s good for those young people so they aren’t bankrupted in their 20s by an illness."

“The president pursues policies that have at their core a desire to build the middle class, strengthen the middle class, make the middle class more secure because that’s what makes America more secure,” said Carney. “It’s just not the view we take about the decision the American people made last week.”